1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to surgical methods, and more particularly, to a surgical method for wound closure.
2. Background of Related Art
Both open and minimally invasive surgical techniques are utilized to investigate and treat the organs and tissues in the chest cavity. Traditionally, with open surgery, a large incision (thoracotomy) is required to open the chest. The incision may extend between the ribs, and the ribs are spread apart to access the thoracic space. While smaller incisions are utilized with less invasive surgical options, in some procedures, such as thorascopy, the incisions may still be made between adjacent ribs to access the chest cavity.
Incisions are typically closed with wound closure devices, such as sutures and/or staples. One common closure technique involves looping suture material around the ribs adjacent to the incision. This closure type may give rise to pressure and pinching on the intercostal nerves which lie near the ribs and cause acute and/or chronic pain. Other known methods of closure may be considered nerve sparing, and involve drilling holes into one or more ribs and passing sutures therethrough to limit intercostal nerve compression.
It would be advantageous to provide a surgical wound closure method that preserves the intercostal nerves, and eliminates the need for knot tying of sutures loops, as well as additional tissue manipulation, such as drilling, to simplify and shorten the time to close an opening, thereby limiting and/or preventing post-operative pain.